Friday, September 30, 2011

I just do not understand these people who insist on carrying out what was planned before March 11 just because... just because.

Here's one of them, Tohoku Athletic Association, who is planning to hold the 27th Annual East Japan Women's Ekiden, of all place, in Fukushima City. Fukushima TV Network is a co-sponsor, with the backing from Sankei Shinbun.

"Ekiden" is a long-distance relay where the teams run the full marathon length (42.195 kilometers) in several stages on the road, with a runner of one stage handing off the team sash to his/her team mate who will run the next stage. It is quite popular in Japan as well as outside Japan, and there is even an "ekiden" event for elementary school girls with much shorter distance. (But long enough to kill one 11-year-old girl in Saitama City during practice, and no it was not heat exhaustion.)

From Sankei Shinbun, as appeared in Yahoo Japan News (therefore don't expect the link to last very long; 9/28/2011):

It has been decided that a joint team of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefecture who suffered in the March 11 earthquake/tsunami will be entered in the 27th Annual East Japan Women's Ekiden which will be held on November 13, the sponsors announced on September 28.

The event is sponsored by the Tohoku Athletic Association and Fukushima TV Network, and backed by Sankei Sports and others. Female runners from 17 Prefectures will run in Fukushima in late autumn. In addition to the prefectural teams, the three disaster-affected prefectures will form a joint team, and run the 42.195 kilometers in 9 stages in friendship and hope for the recovery of their prefectures.

There is a concern over radiation effect from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant Accident, but according to the sponsors, "We've been measuring the air radiation level along the course, and currently it is over 1 microsievert/hour maximum. It is trending down". In preparation for the event, Fukushima City is planning to decontaminate locations including the Shinobugaoka Athletic Field which the Ekiden starts and finishes.

It is reaching the point of criminality, of knowingly exposing young women, majority of them in mid to late teens in junior high schools and high schools, to radiationhigher than that of the radiation control zone in a nuclear power plant. They will run in their shorts and sleeveless tops, without the masks of course. Last year, the youngest runner was 13 years old.

Fukushima City is where Greenpeace detected cobalt-60 in a park in a residential neighborhood, where decontamination work in certain districts resulted in "raising" the radiation levels.

This is lunacy. The coaches and corporate sponsors and others with vested interest would never dream of not going to the event. But the ones that I don't understand are the parents of these underage girls. Once in a lifetime chance to run in a big event must mean so much to the parents that they are willing to send their daughters to a radiation control zone to run.

Plus they will be doing strong physical exertion breathing what radiation there is deeply into their lungs. NO level of these types of isotopes are safe to be injesting internally. The 1 microsievert/hour is if it stays external to the body.

If you don't have the truth and transparency about this accident from the government then most people will just continue to live out theie lives in a happy bubble, a suspension of their disbelief.Good government is about responsibility and this country has proved now on countless occasions in 6 months that it is incapable of telling the truth for the fear that will instill and the damage on the(ir) beloved economy. Look at that stupid bitch in Yokohama for example, feeding kindergarten kids with contaminated beef because it was 50% off. Japan is past tipping point anyway. Remind me to never buy real estate up there, visit (sadly) or eat the produce.It's a real tragedy people don't see the danger, but it is always this way. In the end we are all responsible for ourselves alone. It also takes a massive leap to extricate oneself from the life one has known and is accustomed to. With no 'shepherd' to guide them these people are simply pawns. Don't be one.

Anonymous 2:54: the point is the internal exposure risk; once particulate matter is in the lungs it continues to radiate from within, which is very different from an external exposure, like one receives in-flight. A useful analogy, borrowed from another person, is: imagine receiving the warmth of a fire a meter away from you, the energy being equivalent to one joule. Then imagine a small ember on your lip from the same fire, also one joule -- the difference is the intensity on a localized area; you'd get burned, even though the energy content is the same. This is the same issue with radiation: external vs. internal exposure affect different different tissues. So, it is not fear-mongering in my opinion.

The dead girl needs to have an autopsy to find out if she had a congenital heart defect (previously undiagnosed and untreated) and what was the level of radioactive caesium isotopes in her heart muscle. The parents should DEMAND an independent test on the heart muscle looking for cesium. It was only two weeks ago that Chris Busby predicted Japanese kids dropping dead from cardiac arrhythmias (heartbeat irregularities). Busby's warning was based on the sound clinical and autopsy research of Yuri Bandazhevsky in Belarus after the Chernobyl disaster.

The point about the cesium poisoning of heart muscle is that it does not matter how fit a young athlete you are, if the beat goes crazy, then the blood stops pumping. Sayonara, Japanese girl. さようなら、日本の女性

Another thing to keep in mind are females are more susceptible to radiation effects.

@Anon 2:45

When are you shills going to realize that comparing x-ray and airline flights to exposure to radioactive particles is totally different. Gamma rays don't lodge themselves in your tissues and continually bombard you after the flight. @Anon 3:54 gives a good example of why you are wrong. If radiation contamination is such a none issue then why does the government go to such great lengths to limit whole sale releases from nuclear facilities?

I read these posts at ex-skf and elsewhere with dismay. We have the industry of Japan year after year, pumping out the most high quality applications of new technologies in the electronics,automotive, and other fields of applied wit. Without fail.

What happened??? Why not apply this talent to dealing with the Fukushima mess??? Please move the marathon event this year. I know it was the Bush swine that utilized Nixon to front the operation that designed and installed Fukushima. If Japan were to succeed in having the Bush influence over Japan totally eliminated, no matter how, most all of America would be most appreciative. Americans do not do it themselves because most Americans do not care for anyone other than themselves and wear blinders while the Bush pigs pick their fights overseas. Please move this marathon event this year. Anywhere else. If America knew the facts, they would help. Zionism owns the national media and is keeping everyone in the dark.

Well if ever an experiment was made to test the effects of radiation fallout on athletes , this is it. I hope the docs and others involved enjoy the experience and score some brownie points for their efforts.This is truly a disgrace.

Let me explain the mindset in Japan right now. it is very hard to comprehend. Basically, the people in Fukushima know they are fucked. The government will never help them. If they want to evacuate they will have to do it at their own expense. They have given up really. I lived in Koriyama City in Fukushima from 1997 to 2011. My wife's family lives there and I have a lot of friends still living there. My friend would like his 2 kids to move and go to school somewhere else. The kids refuse. The one (14) said that she would rather have cancer in the future than leave her present life and friends. And yes, she has had many nose bleeds. She has a good idea what is going on. A lot of people have the same feelings right now. My wife totally understands it. I do not. The people know the future is bleak so they want their kids to have fun while they can. Thus, they are going ahead with the Ekiden. Believe me. The Japanese think this is perfectly ok. This is not completely a govt decision. I have asked them about this but they do not seem to understand. The kids transfer for the father's job all the time. Moving to a new school is nothing new in Japan. The country is very health conscious. They eat well and take care of themselves. They are in a kind of denial. That is all I can think of. Can't see it so don't worry about it.

I don't think the analogy with the ember is an accurate one, as internal radiation does not cause necrosis of the tissues like a burning ember would. Often people poke fun at the banana analogy, but the body carries several thousands of becquerels of radioactive material (and even some plutonium, according to professor wiki) so obviously humans are built to tolerate some radioactivity. While I don't agree that having a marathon in Fukushima is a great way to show support, I also don't think anyone will die from it.

People will do anything just to have their little piece of "normalcy".

That's how people continue living in decade-long wars, concentration camps, jails...

That being said, it's easy to say "I don't mind dying" when you're a teenager. I think almost all of us had that thought at the age of 15.

But if major problems only show up ten years later when you give birth to a sick or deformed child and you yourself develop chronic health problems, the picture changes...

The parents should move ASAP if they can. They would do it for a job change, as you said. This is a much bigger game than getting or losing a job, and as I repeat below, death or illness by radiation is not spectacular and fast in most cases.

I for one would like to avoid having any kind of cancer, having had minor but chronic health problems and having witnessed other people's thyroid problems and a very sudden cancer death last year. It hurts.

@anon at 2:07

Well, no one will collapse dramatically during the race and die. The consequences will be a lot less dramatic and they include chronic fatigue, with cancer being just one painful station along the road.This is a lesson in consequences.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost. Thank you so much for sharing these intelligent piece with us. You know very well that what people has to know.How I also wish you could link us up to better jobs sitesallot are really in pains, modern day slavery for a jobOpportunity to get international Jobs specially Nigerian citizens must check this site Offshore Crew Jobs opportunity

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

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Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

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